


Friends of a Friend

by orphan_account



Category: My Chemical Romance, Panic At The Disco
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-01-02
Updated: 2012-06-02
Packaged: 2017-10-28 17:53:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 27
Words: 18,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/310543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frank and Ryan have been best friends since they were little kids. Ryan is madly in love with Brendon and Frank thinks he might be starting to fall for one of Brendon's friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part 1 – a history of Frank and Ryan

Ryan and Frank were best friends. They had been since they were little kids. At the day-care centre, having paint fights, eating the play dough, and stealing other kids’ toys in the sand pit. They were pretty much the unstoppable ones. Always at each other’s side. It was them against the world really.

Years went by, and when the boys were about 8, Ryan’s mum and dad spilt up. Ryan had taken it pretty hard, but Frank was always there for him. Whether it was comforting him when they were round at Frank’s house, or giving him a warm hug when they were in the park, playing. It didn’t matter that they were young; they knew what being best friends meant.

The two got older and older, and soon enough they were starting ‘big’ school. This meant new teachers, new classes, possibly new friends...and new bullies. When they were younger, Ryan got picked on for being more, well let’s just say ‘colourful’, than the others. Even though these kids were just as young and naive, it didn’t stop them picking out things that weren’t supposedly ‘right’.

When they got to middle school, things worsened. Kids were cruel, and Clarkville Junior High wasn’t any exception. They were only a week in to the new school year, and Ryan had already accumulated a group of thugs. When the boys though back on it, they weren’t really that thuggish, they just seemed it at the time. None of the name-callings or beating-ups stopped Ryan from being who he wanted to be though. He would still come to school wearing whatever the hell he wanted, whether that was a waistcoat and a floral scarf, or some converse and a pair of jeans, really depended on his mood. Frank stuck to the same kind of clothes really. He was only 12 or 13, but he knew what good music was. He usually went with a band t-shirt, jeans and some chucks.

If you were out one day, and you saw Frank and Ryan walking down the street, you would never expect them to be friends. They were such an odd couple. In their minds, other’s opinions didn’t matter though, so they went about their lives as anyone else would. Eventually the bullying stopped, after they seemed to get no response out of Ryan. He wasn’t going to change because of them, and they just ended up getting bored. He was quite lucky that way, not all kids would get out that easily.

When middle school finished, and high school started, that was when everything changed for the two boys. They were nearly adults now, and they had to be thinking about the future...apparently. School work was harder, there was more homework, and life was getting pretty hard now... that was until the school got burned down.

Setting the school on fire was probably the only good thing that Jack Donavon ever did, and ever will do.


	2. Part 2 – the new school

“So, when am I going to meet this guy?” Frank asked, as him and Ryan started their walk to art class.

“All in good time, I don’t want to scare him off” Ryan replied, with a grin on his face.

“Ry, you couldn’t scare anyone even if you wanted to” Frank laughed, as Ryan turned and gave him a dead arm.

“Well its true”, Frank continued, “You couldn’t”

“Whatever” Ryan strode ahead in front of Frank, and turned into the art room.

Frank was still laughing when he sat down next to him at a table. “Give it up, Ry. You could never be angry at me”

Frank looked at Ryan and gave him such a cheesy grin, that Ryan couldn’t help but burst into laughter. “You’re an idiot Frank, you know that right?”

“Yup”

Mr Wentz entered the classroom, and told everyone to get on with their work. The class had been working on their final pieces which were going to be assessed and graded. They could do whatever they wanted – “As long as it’s not sexual, rude, or is insulting to me in any way” This is what Mr Wentz had announced to the class, just before they were about to start the project. He got some laughs, and then everyone got on with their work. Everyone liked Mr Wentz, how could you not? He was so laid back and nice. He was one of those guys who you felt you could talk to about anything, at any time.A lot of the teachers were like that now at Milton High School.

When Jack Donavon had set the school on fire, causing the whole building to go up in flames, the old Head of the school had quit. He said that he had had enough of the place and that everyone who attended was either a, ‘hooligan delinquent’ or a ‘moron who wasn’t going to get anywhere in life anyway’. If he hadn’t had quit, he probably would have been fired anyway. Luckily, the fire had been a week before the summer break, so everyone got an early holiday, and when they returned for the new school year, everything had changed.

There was a new Head of the school, who actually was concerned about the well-being of the students, and made sure that everyone was getting what they wanted out of education. More creative lessons were made longer and put in the timetable more often. Everyone was encouraged to take Art, Music, Drama, or join a performing arts club. They obviously weren’t forced into it, but a lot of people wanted to anyway, so there wasn’t a problem.

A lot of the old teachers had left, and new ones had joined. These teachers weren’t your ordinary ones. They were the kind who used to teach art at art colleges, or used to be in rock bands. They were the kind who wanted to bring their skills to the younger generation, and help them to achieve the same kind of happiness they did with their lives. It was a brand new school, and no one was complaining.

It was halfway through art class, and Frank had started to bug Ryan again.

“So...”

“So, what?” Ryan asked, looking up from what he was doing, and rolling his eyes at Frank.

“When am I going to meet Brendon?”

Ryan sighed and could see that he was not getting out of it this time.

“You really want to meet him don’t you?”

“Of course I do! I want to see what my best friend’s future husband is going to look like, don’t I!”

“Frank, shut up! I don’t even know if he likes me back. Who the hell said we were going to get married anyway?”

“I did. Now make a date”

“Fine.”

“Yes!”

Ryan glared at Frank, and then sighed and carried on talking. “I’m seeing him this weekend. We’re meeting for coffee, you can come along, and I’ll introduce you to each other”

“Great. Maybe this will shut you up now, seems as you are always going on about him”

“I am not!”

“Err, yes you are”

“No.”

“Yes. It’s always ‘Brendon’s so pretty’, and ‘Brendon’s so sweet’ and ‘Brendon this and Brendon that”

“Fuck off. I am not like that”

By the way Ryan was smiling; Frank could tell that Ryan knew he was exactly like that.

“Well I guess I can be a bit like that sometimes. But he is perfect Frank. And when you see him, you will flip your shit!”

“Okay Ryan, okay”

Ryan grinned and then got back to his work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, got a lot of hits and stuff. I'm really starting to like this website A LOT.  
> That's why there's two chapters in one day ;-)


	3. Part 3 - Frank meets Brendon

Ryan and Frank were on their way to Starbucks and Ryan was acting like an excited puppy.

“Are you always like this when you’re about to see him?” Frank asked, looking at his friend and raising an eyebrow.

“Oh my god, it’s just, it’s Brendon and-”

“Yeah, yeah I get it”, Frank butted in over Ryan, “’He’s perfect and you’re going to love him’”

“He is gorgeous though Frankie”

“I’ll call it when I see it” Ryan grinned as they neared the coffee house; he was pretty much jumping up and down now.

“If you’re so excited, why didn’t you introduce me earlier?” Frank asked, as they opened the door.

“I don’t know....” Ryan replied, drifting off at the end.

“What’s wrong?” Frank asked, looking confused.

“He isn’t here”

“Don’t be an idiot Ry, he’ll be here any minute now. Let’s go sit down”

Ryan and Frank found an empty booth to sit in. Ryan made sure he had sight of the door. He knew Brendon would be there soon, but that didn’t stop him worrying. Suddenly a waitress came up to the table, “Would you two like any drinks?” she asked, all smiles.

“Not at the moment, thanks. We’re waiting for someone else. I’ll come up and order after he’s here”

The waitress smiled at Frank and went back.

“Frank!”

“What”

“He’s here!”

“Oh my god” Frank watched as a medium heighted guy, with dark brown hair and dark eyes, walked in.

He saw Frank and Ryan and came over to the table.

“Hey guys!” he said, sliding into the booth, next to Ryan.

“Hey Bren!” Ryan was grinning like a maniac, and looking as if he was finding it hard to contain himself.

“And you must be Frank” Brendon said, looking across the table.

“Yup, that’s me”

“Well nice to meet you”

“You too” Frank stared across the table at Brendon. He wasn’t exactly a sex god (in Frank’s eyes) but he definitely wasn’t ugly in any way. Frank could definitely see why Ryan had fallen for him.

Suddenly Frank spoke up. “Ry, why don’t you go order some drinks”

“What!?” Ryan was a bit startled. The look that Frank got off Ryan almost made him laugh. It was the kind of look that said, ‘What the hell. I’m trying to flirt. For fucks sake, Frank you’re an asshole.’

Frank grinned as Ryan reluctantly got up from the table and went to order them their coffees.

“So, you’re the one” Frank said, looking at Brendon.

“I’m the one what?” Brendon replied. Ryan was definitely going to kill Frank for this.

“The one that Ry is always talking about...”

“He’s always talking about me?”

“Yup”

“Um.... I don’t know what to say, is that weird or-”

Frank laughed at Brendon’s worried and confused face. “It’s not in a creeper kind of way”

Brendon smirked and laughed a bit. Ryan was still in the line, and was starting to look fed up. Frank decided to change the subject.

“So Brendon, you got a girlfriend?”

“What. No.”

“Oh... a boyfriend”

“No. Why do you want to know?”

“Oh, no reason...” Ryan was really going to kill Frank. “So how long have you and Ryan known each other?”

“Err, a while” Brendon was starting to look really flustered now, most likely thinking that Frank was the actual creeper. “You’ve been his best friend since you were little kids, haven’t you?” Brendon had sneakily turned the conversation towards Frank now.

“Yeah, we have. I love my little Ry Ry.” Frank grinned at Brendon across the table, and noticed that he shifted a little when Frank said the word ‘love’. Frank was going to make them get together if it was the last thing he did. “So, fancy anyone at the moment Brendon?”

“I guess, yeah” Frank knew he was getting somewhere now.

“Do I know them?”

“Hah, yes” Brendon went wide-eyed after he said that. He thought he’d given it away. And Frank would know.

“Do I know them well?” Frank was just messing around with Brendon now. He knew full well that Brendon liked Ryan. And he obviously knew that Ryan liked Brendon.

“Yeah...”

“Interesting” Ryan came back to the table with the drinks, and Frank gave Brendon a knowing look, causing him to just stare back at Frank in horror. He tried not to laugh. When Ryan had sat back down, Frank decided it was time. “So, when are you guys going to get together?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading guys :D xoxo


	4. Part 4 - ‘“Do you really like me Bren?”’

 Ryan nearly choked on his drink, and Brendon nearly fell out the end of the booth.

“What!” they said in at the same time

“You two. I think you should get together”

Both Ryan and Brendon were giving Frank a ‘shut the fuck up’ look.

“Do I have to spell it out for you?”

“Frank, don’t.” Ryan was almost pleading, but Frank knew that nothing was going to go wrong.

Frank looked at Brendon, “Ryan likes you, and you like Ryan”

Ryan just turned and stared at Brendon, who sat completely still.

“Guys, you fancy the fuck out of each other, just go out already!”

Ryan turned to look at Frank, to make sure he was being serious.

“Do you really like me Bren?”

Brendon looked up at Ryan, and let a small smile creep across his face. “Yeah”

Ryan didn’t say anything. He was almost in Brendon’s lap, hugging him.

“Why didn’t you say anything Ry?”

“I didn’t think you would like me back...” Ryan looked around nervously, as if someone was going to scold him or something.

“Well you got that wrong”

Ryan slid off of Brendon and sat back next to him.

“I actually love you Frank” Ryan grinned at Frank from across the table.

“Yeah, I agree. If it wasn’t for you well....yeah”

“Now you two owe me”

“Fuck you” Ryan stuck his middle finger up at Frank, causing him to just laugh.

They had their drinks, and the whole thing was much more relaxed now that Frank had done his little matchmaking business.

They were about to go their separate ways, when Brendon suddenly remembered something.

“Oh guys, I just remembered. On Friday night, I’m having some mates round; you know play some games, have a drink, that kinda thing.”

“Yeah, that’d be great!” Ryan said, grinning.

“Awesome, come to mine at around seven-ish”

“Cool, see ya”

Ryan hugged Brendon again before he walked off down the street.

When the two boys got back to Ryan’s house, Ryan decided to ask Frank about what he thought.

“So Frankie, what do you think about Brendon?”

“Oh my god, total hottie, I would fuck that any day, anywhere”

Frank was being completely sarcastic, which caused Ryan to punch him in the arm.

“Seriously though, do you like him?”

“Yeah, he seems like a great guy”

“Eeeeee” Ryan was acting like a little girl.

“Did you just giggle, Ry?”

“No...”

“Yes you did” Frank was laughing now.

“Whatever”

“Well he is nice. You did well.”

Ryan scooted across his bed to hug Frank, “I’m so glad you like him”

“Yeah, I’m glad I like him too.”


	5. Part 5 - Frank meets Gerard

“Do I look alright? Do you think I look good in this?”

It was Friday evening, and Ryan and Frank were about to walk to Brendon’s house.

“Ry, it’s not a party. It’s just Brendon and some of his mates”

“I wanna look good for Bren though, make an effort, ya know”

“You’re already going out with him; you don’t have to keep on trying to impress him”

“Yeah but if I turn up wearing a load of shit, won’t he go off me?”

“No one could go off you Ryan”

Ryan just smiled, and turned back to the mirror.

“If you think I look okay, then maybe we should get going...”

It took the boys around ten minutes to get to Brendon’s.

As they were walking up the path to the front door, Ryan suddenly stopped.

“What if his friends think I'm weird?”

“Everyone thinks you’re weird, Ry. It’s a good thing, believe me. Who wants to know a boring person?”

“What if they don’t know me and him are together?”

“Why wouldn’t they know?”

Ryan just shrugged, and Frank knocked on the door.

A boy with big frizzy hair answered.

“You must be Ryan and Frank. I’m Ray, come in”

Frank turned to Ryan, “See, he seems to like you”

They went into the lounge where everyone else was.

“Guys, Ryan and Frank are here”

Ray fell onto the sofa, and got back to the video game he and another boy were playing.

“Ry!”

Brendon jumped up from the floor, and embraced Ryan in a massive hug.

Frank grinned, and walked past them to sit down. He looked around for an empty seat, and noticed one next to a quiet looking boy with shoulder-length black hair.

“Hey” Frank said, sitting down.

The boy looked up, and smiled at Frank.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Gerard”

“Nice to meet you too. So, who are the rest of these guys?”

Frank pointed first to a tall looking boy with blond-brown hair and glasses.

“That’s Mikey, he’s my younger brother”

“Oh right, awesome”

“That’s Bob”

“Cool”

“And I’m guessing you already know Ray and Brendon”

“Yeah”

There was a silence, where Frank had no idea what he was supposed to say. He kind of just sat there, staring at the TV.

Suddenly Gerard shouted something, causing Frank to jump violently and nearly fall off the sofa.

“Sorry man, I didn’t mean to scare you”

“No, no it’s okay”

“It’s just; Bob is really shit at this game. I’m always trying to give him tips and stuff, but he doesn’t listen.”

Frank laughed softly, not looking up at Gerard, but staring down at his hands.

“I’m really sorry; I didn’t mean to freak you out”

“I just didn’t expect you to suddenly shout something”

“Yeah well... apparently I look like the quiet type”

Frank mentally laughed at himself. ‘The quiet one’, was exactly what he had though when he walked in.

Gerard sighed and sat back on the sofa, “He’s still fucking losing”

Frank laughed, and sat back too.

Over the next hour or so, he kept on sneaking quick looks at Gerard out the corner of his eye. Something about him was just....well Frank didn’t really know. All he knew was that something intrigued him. It wasn’t really anything he had ever felt before, and he didn’t really know what it meant.

Frank was about to ask Gerard if he could get him another drink, after he had noticed his bottle was empty, when Ryan came over and almost sat on him.

“Ryan, are you okay?”

“Oops, sorry mate, didn’t see ya there”

“Ryan, what’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing, just a little-”

Ryan hiccupped, and then threw up all over the carpet and the end of the sofa.

“Oh Christ!” this came from Gerard, who had now stood up.

“Oh fuck, you’re drunk”

“Sorry, Bren-”

Too late, there came some more puke.

“That shit is not coming out of the carpet easy. Your mum is going to kill you Brendon” said Bob, who seemed to be staring at the pool of vomit on the floor. Bit weird...

Ryan attempted to stand up, but Frank had to hold him.

“I’ll take him to the bathroom” Brendon said, walking over and taking Ryan out of the room.

Frank went to get some water from the kitchen. He grabbed a glass out of a nearby cupboard, and went over to the sink.

“Did he get you?”

“Shit”

Frank dropped the glass in the sink and it smashed everywhere.

“Oh crap, sorry”

Gerard rushed over to where Frank was standing.

“Are you okay? None of the glass hit you did it?”

“No, I'm fine.”

“I really need to stop making you jump like this don’t I?”

“Yeah, kind of”

Frank was staring at Gerard, who seemed to be getting a little creeped out.

Gerard looked away from Frank, and to the sink, where he started to clean up.

“Um...anyway, what I was saying was did he get you?”

“Did he get me what...?” Frank had sort of zoned out.

“Um, did he puke on you?”

“Oh, no, he didn’t”

“Good... I’ll take this water to Ryan ay?”

“Yeah....”

As he left the kitchen, Frank swore that he was tempted to check Gerard’s ass out. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sending out a thanks to my gorgeous commenters, anon or not.  
> Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou


	6. Part 6 – ‘”Yeah well... I’ve seen you naked before”’

That night, Frank slept at Ryan’s house to make sure he was okay, without his parents finding out that he got seriously drunk. Ryan had never been the type to go out drinking, and even if he was with people, he wouldn’t drink that much. Frank guessed that he must have been trying to impress Brendon or something.

Frank had been awake for a while, staring at a snoring Ryan, who had actually fallen out of his bed in the night, and was now laying sprawled out across the floor.

Frank finally had had enough of the snoring, and he gently nudged Ryan with his foot to wake him up. Ryan groaned and turned onto his back. He made some weird clicking noise with his tongue, before groaning again and slowly opening his eyes.

“Frank, is that you?” he said, squinting.

“Yeah, you don’t remember last night at all do you?”

“Not really. All I remember was us arriving at Brendon’s and then him grabbing my butt in the kitchen”

“Nice piece of information there Ry....”

“Sorry”

Ryan sat up (a little too quickly) and lay straight back down again.

“My head is fucking killing me!”

“You got pretty drunk last night”

“Why did I do that? Brendon probably will want to break up with me now”

“No he won’t. What’s the point of being with someone if you’re only there for them at their good points? Someone has to be there for the good times and the bad.”

“Frankie, you always come up with the weirdest things”

“I’m just saying...”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right”

“Brendon isn’t the type to just go off on one because you puked all over his mum’s carpet”

“Oh my god, did I really?”

“Err, yeah”

“Arghh”

Ryan sat up (slowly this time) and rubbed his face.

“I’m going for a shower first” he said, getting up and staggering to the door.

“Sure” Frank replied, sighing and laying back down.

\--------------

When Ryan opened the bathroom door to come out, Frank nearly ran into him.

“Whoa, someone’s really desperate for a shower” Ryan laughed, grinning.

“Whoops”

“I could have been naked or something”

“Yeah well... I’ve seen you naked before-”

Ryan’s grin fell from his face, “That is not the fucking point”

“-So have a lot of other people” Frank laughed and walked past him into the bathroom.

“Frank!”

“I’m sorry; I know I said I wouldn’t ever bring it up again”

“Frank! We agreed that we would never talk about it!”

“You know I’d never tell anyone, right?”

“I hate you” Ryan’s lips were tugging into a smile now though, and Frank knew he was off the hook.

“Love you too, Ry Ry”

“Piss off”

Frank laughed and closed the bathroom door.

It had been a really bad incident. But when the boys thought back on it, all they could do was laugh really.


	7. The Story Of Ryan's Naked Incident

If you were wondering about the whole naked thing, I’ll tell you. It happened just a year or so before. And it was a complete accident.

 _Ryan and Frank had decided to go to the pool {God only knows why Ryan had thought that was a good idea in the first place}. Everything had been going fine until Ryan realised he’d brought the wrong bathing costume. You can vaguely guess what happened next:_

 _“Frank, I’ve bought the wrong ones....”_

 _“What?”_

 _“These are my brothers! They’re way too big”_

 _“Well we’re not going all the way back now. You dragged me here, so you’re just going to have to deal with it”_

 _“But Frank, look!”_

 _Frank turned around to look at Ryan. They weren’t actually that bad. To be honest, the worst thing about them was the colour._

 _“Come on Ry, they aren’t that bad”_

 _Frank grabbed Ryan’s hand and dragged him out to the pool area._

 _“I’m getting in before I freeze to death” Frank said, jumping straight in._

 _Ryan grumbled, but then just thought, ‘Why not? We came all the way here, so I may as well make the most of it’._

 _Ryan jumped in too._

 _When Ryan surfaced again, he could see Frank heading for a waterslide thing, round the other side of the pool._

 _“Hey, wait up Frank!” he shouted, before swimming to the edge, and lifting himself out._

 _He stood up, and was about to make his way to the slide, when he saw Frank slap a hand over his mouth._

 _“What?” Ryan mouthed, to a shocked looking Frank._

 _Frank slowly took his hand away from his mouth and pointed at Ryan._

 _Ryan frowned and looked down._

 _“Fuck” Ryan’s eyes went wide as he realised he was completely naked._

 _He could hear laughter around him, but he couldn’t seem to move his legs. He’d gone still from embarrassment._

 _He could sense Frank running up to him._

 _“Ry! Go back to the changing rooms!”_

 _Ryan suddenly snapped out of his trance, and turned on his heel._

 _But instead of running back to the changing rooms, he fell face first into a pile of foam toys which had been stacked on a concrete block._

 _More laughter erupted from the pool area, causing Ryan to go an even brighter shade of red than he already was._

 _Ryan didn’t even want to get up, but he knew he had to. He stood up wobbling, and dashed to the changing rooms. He ran into a shower stall and slammed the door shut. He turned the shower head on and the warm water flooded over him. He looked down and noticed he had cut his leg. He guessed it was probably from when he had fallen into the concrete block._

 _He turned the shower off, and slid down the cold, tiled wall. He sat there on the floor, crying into his knees._

 _Soon Ryan heard someone come into the changing rooms. He really hoped it wasn’t someone come to make more fun of him. The person walked into the shower area, then stopped outside Ryan’s stall._

 _There was a little giggle, and then some shuffling of pockets. Then there was the clicking.... of a camera._

 _No No No. That was all Ryan could think of._

 _“Fancy coming out for a quick photo?” came the sly voice from the other side of the door._

 _“Fuck off” that was all Ryan could say from the other side. He was trying to make it sound as if he hadn’t been crying, but it didn’t really work._

 _“Ah, don’t be such a cry baby, come and have a photo”_

 _That was when Ryan recognised the voice. It was Chad from school. There weren’t actually that many bullies, but the lack of numbers was made up for by how ‘tough’ the few of them were._

 _There were about four or five, all Frank and Ryan’s age. They didn’t stick to just one person; they kind of spread themselves out across the school. But that didn’t stop them spending a good amount of time on Ryan._

 _Ryan didn’t reply._

 _Suddenly he heard the door to the changing rooms open again._

 _“Hey you, what do you think you’re doing!”_

 _“Oh, it’s the midget. Come to save your boyfriend have you?”_

 _“He’s not my boyfriend, you dick hole. Get out before I shove that camera where the sun don’t shine”_

 _“No need to get touchy”_

 _“JUST FUCK OFF”_

 _“Okay Okay”_

 _For all that Frank was a small boy, who seemed perfectly innocent and sweet, he could be one fucking scary guy._

 _Frank grabbed Chad by his collar, and pulled him to the door. He opened it and pushed him out._

 _“If you fucking go near him again, I will shove Jack Donavon’s head, up your ass”_

 _And with that Frank slammed the door shut. He walked over to the stall where Ryan was._

 _“Ry?”_

 _“Yeah” Ryan sniffled from inside._

 _Frank threw Ryan’s clothes over the door._

 _“I managed to rescue the shorts...”_

 _“I never want to see those things again.”_

 _Frank laughed, “Okay then”_

 _After Ryan came out, they went straight back home. Not before Frank had punched a couple of people in the face for laughing when they exited the changing rooms._

So the pool trip hadn’t really been a good one, but it would definitely be a good story to tell at a wedding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this wasnt really part of the story, but i thought it would be a funny thing to write and i thought some people might want to know what actually happened to Ryan, so yeah ;-)
> 
> Comments for this would be much appreciated :D xoxo


	8. Part 7 - Frank stars wondering about Gerard

The boys were in Ryan’s room, not really talking about much, when Frank suddenly piped up.

“Hey Ryan, I just thought of something”

“What?” Ryan replied, looking up.

“Before you have a go at me for bringing it up again...”

Ryan just looked at Frank, and Frank assumed that he could go on.

“Well anyways, I was thinking before, and I just thought of something that could have made it even worse”

“How could anything have made that... day, worse?”

“Well... if you had a random boner”

Ryan dropped the comic he was looking at, and stared at Frank.

“How the hell, did you just think of that?”

“I don’t know... but it would have been pretty bad though, right?”

Ryan sat back and smiled, “I guess that would have been bad... and it would have made the whole thing even worse”

“Little kids running around going ‘what’s that mummy’”

“Frank!”

“Sorry, sorry”

“So, you’ve got that sorted, now can we never talk about it again?”

“Sure”

The minute Frank had nothing to say was the minute he started thinking about Gerard again. It had been happening ever since they left Brendon’s house. Frank was holding onto a very drunk Ryan so that he didn’t fall down. Ryan wasn’t really much use at that moment, and Frank wasn’t even going to try and have a conversation with him.

They were about halfway home, when Frank started to think about Gerard. It wasn’t in a sexual way or anything, he wasn’t imagining him topless or some shit like that, but he just kept on thinking about him.

He was thinking of him sitting on the sofa, shouting at Bob. He was thinking of him when he apologised to Frank for scaring him. He was thinking of Gerard when he scared him in the kitchen, and the glass smashed in the sink.

He didn’t know why it was Gerard he was thinking of, and not Ray, Bob or Mikey. He’d only just met them as well. There was something about Gerard that was... different, but Frank couldn’t seem to place his finger on it.

Frank couldn’t seem to figure out what he was feeling. He liked Gerard, he seemed like a cool dude, but that doesn’t explain why he kept on thinking about him. The feelings he was getting, weren’t like the feelings he got for Ryan, or even Mikey or Ray or any of the others. Frank didn’t know what was happening, and it was really starting to piss him off.

“So Ryan, when do you think we’re going to see the guys again?” Frank asked.

“Um, dunno, soon I imagine”

“Hmm... do you think we should organise a meet up or something?”

“Why are you so desperate to see them? I mean they’re cool and all but, ya know”

“I’m not desperate, I just....”

“I mean, I have an excuse, I'm actually going out with Brendon”

“Whatever, and anyways, I am not desperate”

Ryan rolled his eyes, and went back to whatever he was reading. He knew full well that Frank really wanted to see them again, but he hadn’t quite figured out why, yet.


	9. Part 8 - Gerard was the main attraction

It had been a week, and Frank still hadn’t seen them. He’d hung out with Brendon a couple of times, but that was only because he’d tagged along with Ryan. They didn’t mind or anything, but Frank wanted to see more than just Brendon.

Frank was dying to see Gerard. He had finally admitted to himself that it wasn’t all of them he wanted to see, it was mainly Gerard. He liked the others, obviously, but Gerard was the main attraction.

Attraction, Frank was still mulling that word over in his head. He didn’t think he was ‘attracted’ to Gerard in the way of fancying him, but he knew that he liked him more than he did anyone else. I mean, why would Frank like Gerard like that? He was straight. He’d had a few past girlfriends. He’d never been attracted to a guy before. Why would Gerard be any exception?

Frank came to the conclusion, that if he liked Gerard better than the others, it was because he had talked to him more, and that the liking was in a friend way.

Frank really wanted to see Gerard again; he just didn’t know how that was going to happen. He couldn’t just go to Brendon and ask for his number. That would seem kind of weird, and creepy. Frank didn’t want people to think he was a creeper. He assumed Ryan didn’t have Gerard’s number, since he’d only just met him the night before, and he was drunk for the majority of the time.

Frank’s on the verge of going to the telephone book and calling every Way until he finds Gerard, just as he receives a text from Ryan.

The text says: _Friday night, another get together at Brendon’s. You have to come! I promise I won’t get drunk again. x_

Frank quickly texted back: _Yes, I’ll definitely be there. x_

Frank was excited already. This meant Gerard. He would get to see him again, and this time he would make sure he talked to him more, and even try and get his number.

\----------------------

Frank walked to Ryan’s house first, since Ryan only lived around ten minutes away from Brendon.

He lets himself in, with his key. Frank had had a key ever since Ryan’s mum had convinced him that he practically lived there, so he may as well have one.

“Ry!” Frank called up the stairs.

Ryan came running down, and hugged Frank.

“Whoa, what did I do to deserve this?”

“Come on, I’ll tell you”

 Ryan grabbed Frank’s hand and ran back up the stairs to his room. He pulled Frank into his room, and closed the door.

“You seem really happy today”

“I am! I am!”

“Okay... what happened?”

“Well you know I met up with Brendon this morning?”

“Yeah...”

“Well, we kissed!”

Ryan was ecstatic. He was almost jumping off the bed. Frank had to actually get up and open the window, in an attempt to calm him down with the cold breeze.

“Oh my god! Really!”

“Yes! It was perfect!”

“Aww, congrats Ry”

Frank hugged Ryan, and then sat back against the wall.

“So...” he said, crossing his arms

“So...?”

“What was it like?”

“Oh, well-”

The whole explanation took around 10 minutes. Frank listened to all of it. He wanted to know. He wanted to know what Ryan felt. He wanted to know how ‘perfect’ it was. He wasn’t jealous, he was genuinely happy for him, because they were best friends.

“Wow, sounds like he’s one good kisser” Frank laughed

“YES! He fucking is!”

Frank laughed again. Ryan had kissed people before. He hadn’t been in a relationship with them. It was usually a dare, or just a quick one behind the bike shed.

Frank was really happy for Ryan. He hadn’t seen him this happy since they were really little kids. 


	10. Part 9 - Does Frank fancy Gerard?

Frank and Ryan were walking up to Brendon’s house. Frank was finding it really hard not to show how excited he was. When they arrived though, everything was fine, apart from the fact that Gerard wasn’t there.

Frank had been sitting in silence ever since they had got there, just sat completely still on the edge of the couch.

Finally someone seemed to notice that he wasn’t okay.

“Frank, are you alright?” this came from a concerned looking Ray.

“Yeah, I'm fine”

“You don’t look it”

“I just don’t feel all too good”

Frank wasn’t exactly lying, he _didn’t_ feel good. He wasn’t planning on telling anyone the reason for him feeling bad though.

“Do you want some water, or fresh air?”

“Good idea” Frank said, standing up and heading for the door.

Ray was going to follow Frank out, but Frank insisted he’d be fine.

After about five minutes, Ryan came outside to join Frank.

“What’s wrong Frank” he asked, looking straight at him.

“It’s just...”

“It’s just what?”

“No, never mind”

“You clearly aren’t alright. What’s upsetting you?”

Frank didn’t actually really know why he was so upset. It wasn’t as if Gerard had died or anything. He’d just decided not to come along that time.

“I’m not upset; I just don’t feel very well”

Ryan knew full well that that wasn’t the reason Frank was looking down, but he wasn’t going to push Frank into telling him. He knew he’d tell him when the time was right. Ryan knew when Frank needed some space.

“Tell me when it’s feels right, okay?” Ryan said, before getting up and going back inside.

Frank felt bad for leaving Ryan in the dark about it; he knew that he’d be worrying.

Frank sighed and got up. He may as well try and have a good time with the others.

“Feeling better?” Ray asked, as Frank sat down next to him on the couch.

“Yeah, thanks”

Ray patted Frank on the back, before he went back to his conversation with Mikey.

After a while, Ray went off to get a drink, and Frank decided he would ask Mikey.

“So Mikey, why didn’t Gerard come?”

“Oh, he said he didn’t really feel like going out, why?”

“Oh, no reason, I was just wondering”

Mikey nodded, and then turned his attention to whatever video game Bob and Brendon were playing.

Frank sat back, and noticed that Ryan had sat down next to him.

“Oh, hey Ry”

“Bob really is crap at video games” Ryan replied, smirking.

“I can hear you ya know” Bob said from the floor.

“Sorry” Ryan and Frank both laughed.

\--------------

When it was time to leave, Ryan and Frank said their goodbyes, and headed off down the street.

“So, are you coming in for a bit?” Ryan asked, as they stopped outside his house.

“Sure” Frank replied.

They got inside and went up to Ryan’s room.

“I thought you’d like to stay for a bit”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

“Why’s that?”

“Well I figured you might be up for talking about why you were upset before”

“I was fine” Frank was lying and he knew he wasn’t going to be able to get away with it.

“Frank, I’m not an idiot, and I’ve been your best friend since forever.”

“Well... I wasn’t really upset-” Frank started, but Ryan interrupted.

“Disappointed because Gerard wasn’t there?”

“What...”

“I had kind of figured it out. I also overheard you talking to Mikey and asking him why Gerard hadn’t been there”

“Oh...”

“Frank, what did you think I was going to say? That you weren’t allowed to like him or something?”

“Ryan, I’m really confused at the moment. I don’t know if I like him... in that way. I’ve never liked a guy before.”

Ryan breathed out and smiled. “Before I... came out, I never thought I’d be into boys either”

“Ryan, you knew you were gay from a really young age. Before that, you never really even thought about boys _or_ girls”

Ryan hummed softly, and ducked his head, “Good point”

Frank grinned a bit at that, but then he got back to the serious stuff.

“I mean, I still like girls...”

“Maybe you’re bi”

“Argh I hate this! Why does there have to be a label on everything. Why can’t people just like _people_? Why do they have to be ‘straight’, ‘gay’, ‘bi’, ‘emo’....?”

“I know Frank. I know”

Ryan’s comforting voice calmed Frank a bit, but there was still the underlying problem. Did he fancy Gerard?


	11. Part 10 - Frank calls Gerard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Comments are dying D:  
> Please carry on commenting, they really help :D  
> xoxo

After Frank had left that night, Ryan decided it was time to take action. He grabbed his phone, and sent a text to Brendon. He waited for a while, and soon got a text back, telling him what Gerard’s number was.

Ryan planned on telling Frank that he had his number all along, and just forgot he did. That way, he could give the number to Frank, and convince him to call Gerard.               

\----------------------

“Hey Frank!” Ryan shouted across the hallway, as he entered the busy school building and saw his friend standing by his locker.

Frank waved, closed his locker, and joined Ryan on his walk to his first class.

“So Ry, you said that you’d been meaning to tell me something”

“Yes. I was just looking at my phone the other day, and I remembered”

“Remembered what?”

“That I have Gerard’s number”

“Seriously, dude? And it just slipped your mind?”

“Yeah, sorry”

“I probably shouldn’t be so hard on you, I mean I don’t know if I’d even text him”

“Well I think you should. Even if you don’t like him, in that way, he’s still a cool guy to be friends with”

“I guess...”

“Come on! Just do it. Give him a call”

“Fine. Come with me at lunch, we can walk to that small park around the corner, and I’ll call him”

“Yes!”

“You seem just as excited as I feel”

“Yeah well, I guess I am”

\------------------------

Frank’s last lesson before lunch finished, and he rushed to Ryan’s locker. Ryan was already there, grabbing his lunch.

“You ready?” Ryan said, as Frank walked up to him.

“Yup”

They walked to the park and sat down at an empty picnic table. Ryan got out his phone, and told Frank Gerard’s number as Frank typed it into his own phone.

Frank stared at the number on the screen for a while, before looking up at Ryan.

“Here goes nothing” he said, pressing the green button, and holding the phone up to his ear.

Despite Frank’s fairly calm outlook, he was terrified. He was scared Gerard would think it was weird, since Frank had only known him for a couple of days, and was already calling him up to go out somewhere.

He was really glad that this guy he knew was having a party, that he was invited to otherwise he would have had no idea about what to ask Gerard out to do.

The party was on Saturday, so it was probably unlikely that Gerard would have made plans already.

Frank listened to the dial tone, as it beeped over and over, and then suddenly, Gerard’s ragged voice answered the phone.

Frank thought, he must have been sleeping or something, because he sounded really tired.

“Hello?”

“Oh hey Ge-Gerard, it- it’s Frank”

Frank was mentally kicking himself so hard at that moment that he thought he would actually get bruises.

“Frank?”

Oh shit. Oh shit. He hadn’t remembered Frank.

“From Brendon’s house, a couple of Fridays ago...”

“Oh yeah, Frank. The guy I kept scaring” Frank heard Gerard laugh slightly on the other end of the phone, which made him get his hopes up more.

“Yeah, that’s the one”

“So Frank, what can I do for you man?”

Frank heard some rustling on the other end of the phone, and guessed Gerard was sitting up now.

“Well actually, I was going to ask if you wanted to come to a party”

“A party ay?”

“Yeah.... a party”

Frank looked up at Ryan, who was staring intently at him and giving him a thumbs up.

“When would this party be?”

“Uh, this Saturday”

“Sounds good to me... are Ryan and Brendon and that lot going?”

“Um...Are Ryan, Brendon and that lot going?”

Frank repeated the question so that Ryan would hear. Ryan nodded frantically, and then went back to the sandwich he’d started on. 

“Yup, they’re going too”

“Alright then, it’s a date” Gerard replied cheerfully.

“Err...”

Frank didn’t get to say anything else, because Gerard hung up.

“Ryan...” Frank said, slowly putting his phone down on the table.

“Yeah?” Ryan replied, through a mouth of sandwich.

“He said it was a date”

“Isn’t that good?” Ryan said, swallowing, and placing his sandwich down.

“I don’t know. That’s the problem”

“Frank, it’s okay if you like him. Don’t be scared of it. No one is going to force you to go parading around telling the whole world you like guys”

“I know Ry, I just can’t really help being scared”


	12. Part 11 - The Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so that's all my pre-written stuff, so updates might be slower now (school, argh)  
> Thankyou, and patience will be rewarded :)  
> xoxo

“Hey Ry, come in” Frank said, opening the door to Ryan and then closing it behind him.

Ryan had gone round to Frank’s to get ready for the party, which seemed pretty stupid and a lame thing to do, but Frank was freaking out.

He’d called Ryan up about an hour earlier insisting that he needed to come over to help him. Frank wanted to look good for Gerard, and even though he was embarrassed about wanting to make so much of an effort, he really needed some help.

“So?” Ryan said, as they made their way up the stairs to Frank’s room.

“Well, I had some stuff in mind-”

“Really...”

Ryan sat on the bed as Frank rifled through his wardrobe looking for something ‘cool’.

After a while Ryan got kind of bored of Frank’s complaining about having nothing to wear, and stood up.

“Frank, you aren’t getting anywhere.”

Frank sighed and turned around to face Ryan.

“Look”- Ryan said, grabbing Frank by the shoulders. “You sit. I’ll sort this”

Frank sat down on the bed with another heavy sigh, and crossed his legs as he watched Ryan rummage through his clothes.

About 30 seconds later, Ryan came out with some black skinnys and a tight-fit Joy Division t-shirt.

“Here, you’ll look great” Ryan said, throwing the clothes at Frank and heading for the door.

“Are you sure?” Frank said, not really thinking it was going to look that good.

Ryan had closed the door now and was standing outside.

“Try the fucking clothes on! You’re gonna look great!” he shouted through the door.

“Fine.” Frank grumbled and started taking his clothes off.

He slipped into his new clothes, and looked in the mirror. He was quite surprised at how good he actually looked.

“If you’re not dressed, it’s your fault...” Ryan said, coming back into the room, to find Frank staring at his reflection.

Ryan smiled and walked over, “See, you look awesome”

Frank turned and hugged Ryan.

“Thanks Ry, you’re a genius”

“Well I wouldn’t say that” he said back, grinning.

\-----------------------------

Happy with how he looked, Frank and Ryan then walked to the party.

When they got there, the music was already pounding, and people were all over the front garden, laughing, drinking, smoking and messing about.

“I’m gonna go find the others” Ryan said, indicating to the path down the side of the house that lead to the back garden

“Sure”

Ryan went off, and Frank thought he’d go and see if Gerard had arrived yet.

He made his way through the crowded garden, and there was no sign of Gerard. Frank went into the house, where the music was even louder, and decided he’d start with the kitchen.

In the kitchen, there was a drinking game going on, where a lot of people already seemed to be drunk, even though the party had only just started. Gerard definitely wasn’t there, so Frank headed to the lounge. Once again, there was no sign of Gerard.

Frank was starting to panic now. He didn’t really know why. Gerard would be there soon, wouldn’t he?

Frank went to the stairs next. Maybe Gerard had gone to the bathroom.

Frank climbed the stairs, and then he saw Gerard.

He was with some girl. He was holding a drink, and they were dancing together. Gerard said something, and the girl started to laugh. And then, she leaned in and kissed him, and not on the cheek. It was a proper full-on kiss.

Frank didn’t want to see anymore. He turned quickly, and went back down the stairs and to the back garden.

He was half upset, and half angry. Gerard had said it was a date. What did he think he was doing?  


	13. Part 12 - A very Confused Frank

Frank went to the back garden to find Ryan. He found him straight away. He was with the others, and they were laughing and chatting.

“Ry?” Frank said, walking up to them.

“Hey mate!” Ray smiled, lightly slapping Frank on the back.

Frank shrugged away, which made Ray turn and give Bob and Mikey a weird look.

“What is it Frank?” Ryan said.

“Um, I think I'm gonna go home”

“Why? The party’s only just started”

“I’m not... feeling too good.”

Ryan cocked his head to the side, and for a minute Frank thought he was going to try and convince Frank to stay. But he didn’t.

“Do you want me to walk back with you?”

“No, you stay and have a good time. I’ll be alright.”

“Frank...”

“I’m fine” Frank smiled quickly, and walked away.

He could hear Ray saying something like ‘Is he always ill?’

Frank was making his way through the front garden, when he heard someone shout his name. He couldn’t recognise the voice over the music and everyone laughing and shouting. He carried on walking.

“Frank!”

They shouted again, but Frank wasn’t in the mood for a conversation.

\-----

It turned out, that the person shouting to Frank wasn’t looking for a conversation, as such. They were trying to warn him.

Frank was so out of it that he didn’t even notice what was going on around him. He was focusing on getting home and being pissed at Gerard.

Frank was walking right into a fight. That was the shouting he could hear. Someone had been caught kissing someone else’s girlfriend or something, and a punch-up had started. Frank was heading right for it, and he didn’t even notice. The next thing he knew, he was being pushed back and forth and people were falling into him and shoving him. He was having to duck and dodge fists, and try to not get trampled on.

Eventually, he got hit though. Someone had punched him hard in the face when he got in the way of an intended punch-ee.

Frank fell to the ground almost instantly, dizzy and in pain. He looked up but no one had seemed to notice that he’d gone down. Then he got a massive rush to the head, and blacked out.

He woke up in his bed. It was about 4 in the morning, and he had no idea what was going on. He looked around, and saw someone asleep on the floor. It was Ryan. Frank couldn’t even remember how he’d got home. He sat up and slowly crept out of bed and to his door. He opened it quietly, trying not to wake Ryan, and headed to the kitchen for a glass of water.

Frank’s head was pounding, and he was light-headed and dizzy, but he had no idea why. He grabbed a glass out of the cupboard and filled it up. He walked quietly back to his room, and settled in his bed. He figured he must have got drunk or something, but he didn’t feel hung-over.

Suddenly there was a stirring from the floor, and Ryan turned over and opened his eyes.

“Frank? You’re awake”

“Yeah”

Ryan sniffed and sat up. “Are you okay?”

“Not really. My head is killing me!”

“Yeah...”

“What even happened? I can’t remember”

“Well... you kind of got knocked out”

“What!”

“Yeah, you walked into a fight, and someone punched you”

“What the hell? I don’t remember any fight? Why would I do that?”

“I don’t know, but Brendon was calling to you and you didn’t seem to hear him”

“Oh my god... I think I was just in a bit of a mood over-”

“Over what?”

“Oh...” Frank hadn’t meant to say anything.

“Frank, you didn’t feel ill. What was the real reason for you wanting to leave?”

Frank sighed heavily, and lay down.

“I saw Gerard”

Ryan didn’t say anything, and just waited for Frank to carry on.

“He was on the stairs... with a girl”

“Oh Frank...”

“They were kissing and-”

Frank was cut off by Ryan getting up and hugging him.

“It’s okay, Frank. It’s okay”

“But Ry...”

“I know, I know”

“I think I’d actually decided I liked him. I really did like him... I still do”

Ryan sat on the bed, looked at Frank.

“Maybe it wasn’t what it looked like”

“I don’t really know what it looked like. I got out of there kinda fast”

“Did Gerard see you?”

“No, I don’t think so”

Ryan and Frank talked until morning. The sun started to stream through the curtains at around 7am. Frank was in a better mood, after Ryan had succeeded in cheering him up. After the serious stuff was over, and Frank was just sad, Ryan proceeded to start dancing. Frank thought that was hilarious, and soon both of them were in fits of laughter. 


	14. Part 13 - Frank and Ryan go for a Walk

Frank’s mum had already gone out to do some morning shopping, so Frank and Ryan were alone in the kitchen. Frank was searching through the cupboards trying to find some breakfast whilst Ryan sat at the table, watching him.

“Why don’t we just go out?” he said after a while

“What?” Frank replied, turning around to face Ryan

“I mean, to like a cafe or something”

“Oh, actually that’s a good idea”

“I am the master of good ideas, you see”

“Yeah, whatever”

Ryan laughed as Frank left to go and find his money.

There was a little cafe just down the street from Frank’s house, so it wasn’t a long walk. They got in and took some seats by the window.

“My head still really hurts” Frank complained resting his head in his hands.

“Yeah well, it probably will for a while”

“Ugh...”

Soon someone came up to take their order and Frank had to sit up and smile so that he wouldn’t look rude.

Ryan just stared out the window, until he decided to say something.

“So, you think you really like Gerard?”

Frank looked up, and sat back against his chair.

“I think I do. I think after the whole ‘it’s a date’ thing, I think I finally decided that I did like him. I really did.”

“And you still do?”

“Yeah.... despite everything”

“Well, like I said, it might not have been what it looked like”

“I don’t really know what else it could have been”

The boys sat up as their food came to the table, and they ate in silence. Frank only ate half of his. With everything on his mind, he wasn’t really that hungry.

“Wanna go for a walk? It might clear your head” Ryan asked, as they walked away from the counter after they’d paid.

“I guess. It couldn’t hurt”

They headed to the park, and walked slowly. It was going fine until Frank suddenly stopped in his tracks.

“What?” Ryan asked, looking at him weirdly.

Frank pointed, “Gerard”

Ryan looked up and saw Gerard walking towards them, with his head down.

“Ryan, he hasn’t noticed us, let’s go”

Frank was tugging at Ryan’s sleeve, nearly dragging him.

“Wait-”

“No, let’s go”

“Just talk to him. Maybe he could explain”

“What? No! How awkward is that going to be?”

“Well you won’t know until you find out!”

“Ryan. No!”

“Oh hey, Frank! Hi Ryan”

It was too late for anything now. Frank let go of Ryan, and turned around.

“Hi, Gerard”

There was a bit of an awkward silence, until Ryan asked Gerard why he was out.

“Oh, I sometimes like to just go for walks in the morning. I know it’s kinda weird but...”

“Nah, it’s not weird” Ryan replied, shoving at Frank to say something.

Frank just stood there, staring at the ground, and Ryan had had enough.

“Anyways, Frank has something to say”

Frank’s head shot up. He widened his eyes at Ryan, but Ryan just looked back at him.

Gerard turned to Frank, “What did you want to say?”

“Um... well”

“Oh, actually before you do, I need to ask you something”

“Really?”

“Yeah, about the party”

Frank shuffled around a bit, and put his hands in his pockets.

“I’ll leave you guys to it” Ryan said, patting Frank and the back, “See you back at yours Frank”

Frank smiled, and Ryan was gone.

Gerard looked behind him, “Do you wanna go sit down on that bench, we have been standing a while”

“Sure”

They walked over to the bench and Frank sat down first, near the end, to make sure Gerard had enough room as he wanted. But Gerard sat down right next to Frank, so that their legs were brushing up against each others. Frank tried not to move, because the feeling was sending shivers right up his back.

“So, what did you want to say about the party?”

“Well, I didn’t see you there. I thought that maybe I’d got the wrong house, but then I saw all the others”

“Oh”

“I went looking for you, and I asked Ray and stuff where you were but they said you’d gone home”

“Yeah, I left pretty early”

“Why?”

“I got punched”

“What!”

“It was an accident; I walked into a fight without noticing, and I guess, got in the way”

“How did you not notice?”

“Well I was kinda pissed off about-”

Frank stopped, what was he doing? Was he really about to tell Gerard he was pissed off because he had seen him all up on someone else’s mouth?

“Pissed off about what?”

“Well... I did see you”

Gerard frowned, and sat back on the bench.

“You were with this girl”

“Oh, on the stairs?”

“Yeah”

“Did you think I had dropped you for her?”

“Kind of”

“Ah, don’t worry. I didn’t even know the girl. One minute we were chatting about the party and stuff, and then the next she was sticking her tongue don my throat.”

“Yeah, I could see”

“I pushed her off, but she kept going back for more, so I had to kind of abandon her and run off the down the stairs”

Frank could actually believe that. He had left pretty quickly after all.

“I thought you were with her”

Gerard burst into laughter at that.

“Believe me, if I was with anyone it wouldn’t be her. Let’s just say ladies aren’t the preferable sex”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so so so sorry i took so long D:  
> I've been kinda busy with school and stuff, but it's the weekend, so i'll be writing for the majority of it :D  
> Thankyouu everyone who comments and leaves kudos <3 <3  
> xoxo


	15. Part 14 - Frank feels like an idiot

Frank felt like an idiot now. He realised he had never actually asked if Gerard was gay, so why would he fancy Frank anyway, and now he’s found out he _is_ gay.

Frank rubbed his face and ran his hands through his hair, “Right”

Gerard laughed again.

“I was looking forward to spending the party with you, and the when the others had said you’d gone home, I left”

“You left? Because I wasn’t there?”

“Pretty much”

Frank was restraining himself from jumping up with joy. He was grinning like an idiot at Gerard, and wasn’t saying anything.

“So now that we’ve established I wasn’t making out with _some girl_ , after I’d agreed to go to a party with _you,_ do you wanna go to another party?”

Frank was shocked, was Gerard asking him out? He didn’t even know. It could just be a friendly gesture. Why would Gerard fancy him?

“Yeah, another party sounds good”

“Great, how about you come to mine first, so that we arrive at the same time”

Frank wasn’t really listening; he was just nodding and smiling.

Gerard raised his eyebrows then stood up, “Right, I better be off”

“Yeah, me too”

“Don’t want Mikey to think I’ve been kidnapped or anything”

“Yeah”

“Next Friday night, come to mine at 8ish, then we can head to the party?”

“Sure. Yup. Sounds great. See you then”

Gerard smiled, and went off.

Frank stood in the middle of the park, watching as Gerard left. He was lucky Gerard hadn’t turned around and seen him; otherwise he would have looked like a right creeper.

Frank let out a low, happy sigh, and walked back home.

He got in; to find Ryan helping his mum put the shopping away.

“Hey Frank!” they both called from the kitchen.

“Hi!”

Frank went into the lounge and flopped onto the couch. He lay there, staring at the ceiling, until Ryan came in and moved Frank’s legs so that he could sit down.

“So?” he said, placing Frank’s legs on his lap.

“I’m going to a party with him on Friday”

“Whoa, someone knows how to seduce a man”

“Hey, he asked me”

“So I guess you’re alright now”

“Yup, and Gerard’s definitely gay”

“Oh, did I not tell you he was...?”

“No!” Frank sat up and glared at Ryan.

“Sorry man, must have slipped my mind”

“A lot of important things, seen to slip your mind don’t they?”

Ryan breathed out with laughter, and then shrugged and sat back. Frank lay back down again, and proceeded to tell Ryan all about the conversation he’d just had with Gerard. Once again Ryan listened to all of it, properly.

“So, do you think he likes you?”

“What?”

“Well come on. He’s just invited you to a party and to his house beforehand, and he’s told you he’s defiantly gay”

“So?”

“He’s practically already in your pants”

“Ryan!” Frank sat up and hit Ryan on the arm.

“I’m just saying”

“Yeah, well-”

“Go for it Frank. How long has it been since you met someone you really like?”

Frank sighed, “You’re right”

“I always am”

Ryan’s smug grin disappeared, when Frank decided to put his foot in his face. He really was right though. Frank really liked Gerard, and maybe it could work. 


	16. Part 15 – Friday mornings are shit

It was Friday morning and Ryan was waiting at the school gates for Frank to arrive. He was getting cold, and Frank was taking longer than usual. Ryan was just about to give up, when he saw Frank turn the corner and head down the road towards him. He saw Ryan and started to jog over.

“Finally” Ryan said, as they turned into the school and walked towards the school entrance.

“Sorry, I kind of overslept”

They walked into the school, and headed to their home room, which was strangely pretty empty when they got there.

“Where is everyone?” Frank said

“Dunno”

They sat down and waited for the bell to go. Everything was just fine until Jack Donovan arrived. He was with the usual group assholes he hung around with. They all crowded around one desk behind Ryan and Frank.

Jack and his gang hadn’t been bothering Frank that much lately for some reason. They’d been focusing most of their attention on Ryan.

Frank looked over to Ryan who looked like he was about to shit himself. Ryan didn’t even look up; he was staring at the floor, and shaking his leg.

There was a lot of whispering and laughing from behind them, and then one of them piped up.

It was Sean, and he’d decided to walk over to Ryan’s desk. He sat on it, and Ryan didn’t even flinch.

“Ryan, how nice to see you”

Ryan didn’t say anything.

“It’s nice to look at people when they’re talking to you, Ryan”

“Yeah have some goddamn manners!” shouted Jack from behind them.

Ryan slowly looked up, with scared eyes.

Frank was getting pretty annoyed now, he was about to get up and say something, when Jack stood up and walked over to Ryan and Sean. He stood, looming over Ryan, and blocking him in from getting out.

Frank couldn’t even see Ryan anymore; even if he stood up he wouldn’t have been able to see him.

Sean and Jack started laughing, and it looked as if Jack was ruffling Ryan’s hair. Frank heard Ryan’s chair scraped across the floor, and then Jack slammed his hand down on the desk.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Ju-just leave me a-alone”

That caused the whole group of them to burst into laughter.

“Awh, little Ryan’s scared”

Frank didn’t know what to do. He knew he couldn’t take on four guys by himself, and Ryan wasn’t really a fighter and he wasn’t in any state to be punching anyone, anyway.

“Hey Theo, Derek, go get us some supplies would you?”

Jack turned around and gave them a sly grin, and they knew what he meant. Frank knew as well. They’d done this to Ryan before.

They’d caught him on the way out of school, and pushed him to the back of the school, where they’d prepared a lot of paints, glue and tissue paper. They’d poured the glue and paint all over his hair, and it ran down him, wrecking all his clothes. They’d then proceeded to stick the tissue paper all over him and tie him up with thick string they’d found in the arts cupboard. They left Ryan on the floor round the back of the school. It was about an hour until Frank found him.

Frank wasn’t there to stop them that time. But this time he was, and he was going stop it.

As soon as Theo and Derek had left the room, Frank got up and shoved Sean to the side (He was the smaller one).

“Oh, look who’s hear to save little Ryan.”

Frank ignored him and pulled Ryan up out of his chair.

“Look guys, why don’t you just leave Ryan alone? What’s he ever done to you?”

A smirk spread on Jack’s face, and he tried not to laugh.

“You fags have no idea do you?”

Frank’s fists clenched and he was so tempted to just punch Jack right there, but he knew he couldn’t take both of them on and come out on the better side.

“He’s ruining this school”

“How the hell is he ruining this school?”

To be honest, Frank had no idea why they would be worried about the reputation of the school anyway.

“You really don’t get it do you? You’ve been here for years and you still don’t get how things run in this place”

“No I don’t get it. I don’t get how you think you can go around treating people however the fuck you want, and expect them to just take it. Maybe you’d care to enlighten me?”

“Hah. Well let’s start with the fact that certain people in this school don’t deserve to be here”

“How does anyone not deserve to be here?”

“Anyone like that” he indicated to Ryan, “Shouldn’t be allowed out, let alone here”

“I mean, just look at him. Scarves and fancy boots and shitty looking t-shirts”

Jack laughed along to what Sean had said, and then reached over to Ryan and started playing with the red bandana which was round his neck.

Ryan shoved Jack’s hand away, and stepped back a bit.

“Ooh, getting all defensive now are we?”

“Leave him alone, or I swear I will-”

“Will what?” Sean cut him off.

“You won’t be able to do anything, you’re a fucking midget”

Frank swore that he must have been going bright red by now; he was about to go ape shit on these guys.

“This debate is over” Sean said, moving forward, about to grab Ryan.

Jack looked at Ryan, “He shouldn’t be allowed out, look at him. It’s disgusting that people think they can go around like that, wearing stuff like that. Look at him, he’s not helping anyone”

Sean laughed again, and that was when Jack had really done it, “He may as well be dead”          

He has crossed the fucking line.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, sorry for the wait being longer than usual.


	17. He'd Crossed The Line and He had To Pay

“Don’t you ever fucking say that ever fucking again!”

Frank lunged forward, pushing Sean out of the way. Frank had been more forceful than he expected, and Sean stumbled backwards and fell over a desk.

Frank grabbed Jack by the collar and pushed him up against the classroom wall. Jack’s smirk faded from his face slowly, and he looked past Frank and saw Sean on the floor.

“Whoa, you’re stronger than you look”

Frank twisted Jack’s collar in his hand. He didn’t really know what he was doing; he’d never really attempted to beat someone up properly before.

He kept twisting his hand until Jack made a sort of choking sound, so Frank loosened up a bit. He didn’t want to kill Jack (not completely).

“Calm down dude, I was only joking” Jack actually looked pretty scared, and his eyes kept darting between a winded Sean and Frank.

“You do not joke about those kinds of things”

“Jeez...”

Frank was about to say something when someone grabbed him from behind and pulled him backwards.

Frank let go of Jack and tripped backwards into Sean, who had somehow recovered.

Sean pushed Frank to the front of the classroom, and up to the teacher’s desk, where Frank’s back slammed into something sharp.

Ryan was panicking, as Jack walked over to Sean and Frank.

“Don’t you try and pull another stupid little stunt like that again” Jack said, pushing Sean to the side so that he was right in front of Frank.

Frank couldn’t move, he was trapped. His whole plan was failing and there was nothing he could do to get out of trouble now.

Suddenly Ryan spoke up, which wasn’t really expected by anyone.

“Guys, leave him alone. It’s me you want”

“Ryan, no!” Frank was trying desperately to shut Ryan up, but it wasn’t working.

“Don’t hurt him, beat me up if you have to”

“Well, if you say so” Sean said grinning.

“Yeah, it’ll be your go after Frank”

Ryan stepped forward, “No. Don’t hurt him.”

“Sorry, but that isn’t your choice”

Ryan looked at Frank who just stared back at him. He started to walk backwards towards the class door.

“Hey! Don’t get any fucking ideas about leaving, fag”

Ryan stopped in his tracks, and Sean turned back around to face Frank.

“So Sean, how do you think we should do this?” Jack turned to Sean and they both let an evil grin spread across their faces.

“I dunno, there’s so much to choose from. Face, stomach, maybe we could go for the chest”

“I don’t want to knock him out... as first. He needs to suffer a bit first”

Behind them was Ryan. He was shifting around, trying to figure out whether to make a run for it and find a teacher or anyone who could help, or just stay and try and do something. He kept looking as if he was about to jump onto Sean and start strangling him or something, but he never did.

Frank was getting pretty scared now. Before, when Sean was on the floor, he thought he may actually have been able to handle it.

Suddenly, without warning, Jack pulled his fist back and slammed it right into Frank’s jaw. They’d clearly made up their mind on what they were going to do.

Frank groaned and winced as he dragged his head up to look at Jack and Sean. They were grinning down at him, and then Sean looked at Jack and nodded before punching Frank in the stomach.

Frank doubled over and nearly fell forward.

Jack grabbed Frank’s shirt and pulled him up to sit on the teacher’s desk.

Frank kept his head hung down, but he knew that wouldn’t stop much of the pain that was coming for him.

Sean pushed Frank upright, and Jack swung his fist into Frank’s side, right in the rib. Frank fell to the side in pain, closely missing a pot of pencils. If he’d landed on them...

Frank was lying on his side now, but Jack and Sean’s fists kept on coming. His whole body was in pain.

Suddenly, they pulled Frank forward and he rolled off the desk and onto the floor, where they kicked him profusely in the stomach.

Frank was about to close his eyes, when he glanced up and noticed the Ryan wasn’t there anymore. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this fight (sort of) scene is kinda bad.  
> Feel free to give any tips on how to make it better :D  
> Thankyou and don't forget to comment xoxo


	18. Part 17 - Ryan starts acting a bit weird

Frank thought he was going to black out, he kind of wished he had. His eyes were flickering, and occasionally he glanced up, only to see the evil grins on Sean and Jack’s faces. He had no idea where Ryan had gone. At first he thought he must have snuck out, and gone to get help, but then he remembered, Derek and Theo. They’d gone off before to find the ‘supplies’ which were going to be used on Ryan. They hadn’t come back yet, Frank thought.

Frank wished he could do something. What if Ryan was being dragged off right now, round the back of the school? He felt so helpless and guilty, even though he was the one who was taking a beating.

His stomach hurt like a motherfucker though, and he felt like he could puke at any time.

They were about to pull him up so that they could do some more punching, when there came some shouting from the hallway.

Sean was holding Frank up by his collar, but as soon as Jack and him heard the shouting, Frank was dropped to the floor.

Frank couldn’t really make out what they were saying, just a lot of cursing and clattering around. Frank figured they’d run out of the class, when the room was silent, and Frank regained the privilege of being able to breathe properly.

He didn’t dare try to sit up just yet, so he just lay there, until he heard voices getting louder as they came closer.

“Little fuckers” This was the familiar voice of Mr. Wentz.

He came round the side of Frank, and knelt down.

“Frank?” he said, putting his hand on Frank’s side.

Frank just nodded, as he didn’t really know what to say.

Mr. Wentz helped Frank to sit up against the teacher’s desk.

Frank and Ryan’s home room teacher came in and was about to say something, when the bell rang. She turned and closed the classroom door. Frank could vaguely understand her saying something about them ‘using another room for today’.

Frank just wanted to stop everything. He just wanted to drift off, and worry about things later. He really didn’t want to deal with anything.

“Frank?”

Frank slowly pushed himself up onto his knees and used the desk to haul himself up into a standing position. He still felt like he was going to puke, but he didn’t want to worry Mr. Wentz. He was a worrier.

“Where’s Ryan?” Frank looked up to the art teacher.

“I’m not sure to be honest; do you want me to go and try to find him?”

“Um...”

“He told me what was happening, and I ran straight here. I thought he was following me... but apparently not”

“It’s okay, I’ll find him”

“Frank, you’re not really in any condition to go trooping around the school looking for your friend.”

Frank was about to argue that it wasn’t that bad, when the class door opened and Ryan walked in.

“See, here he is”

“Frank looked up and smiled, but Ryan didn’t really look too smiley”

“Thanks, Ry” Frank said, walking over to Ryan and hugging him gently.

Ryan didn’t really reciprocate the hug; he just stood there, rigid.

Frank stepped back awkwardly, but didn’t say anything. He gave Ryan a confused look, but he just looked away and pulled his sleeves down over his hands.

Frank turned back to Mr. Wentz, who also seemed a little confused by the whole ‘Ryan acting like a weirdo’ thing.

“Frank, do you want to go to the nurse?”

“No, I’m okay; my stomach just hurts a bit”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes”

“Maybe you should go home for today. You’ll definitely be better by Monday then”

“Okay...”                           

“I’ll sort out you attendance record”

Mr. Wentz patted Frank lightly on the back, before exiting the class and walking off to the office.

After the art teacher had left, Frank asked what was wrong with Ryan.

“Ry, are you okay? You seem a little, um, weird”

“Fine”

Frank had no idea why Ryan was acting like this, but he clearly didn’t want to talk, so Frank picked up his school bag, and headed to the door.

He walked out into the cold air outside of the school, and sighed. It was pretty cold, but no way was he asking his mum to come and pick him up. She’d flip her shit if she knew what had happened to him. Frank hated seeing his mum all worried. He figured that the school might tell her anyway, but he’d take the chance.

He left the school grounds and headed down the street.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i loved it when you guys used to comment lots, when i first started posting on this story :-) Keep it up, id love to hear what you think!
> 
> Thanks xoxo


	19. Part 18 - "And at that, Ryan burst into tears"

Frank was about half way home when he noticed that Ryan was following him. He wasn’t particularly trying to catch him up, or make it known that he was there. Frank turned around, and Ryan just stopped, and stared at him. Frank gave him a confused look, and walked over to him. Ryan looked down, and coughed slightly.

“Ryan, what are you doing? I thought you were at school”

Ryan didn’t say anything.

“No one’s going to know where you are”

“I don’t care”

“Why are you following me?”

“Because.... because-” Ryan didn’t seem to have a reason.

Frank sighed, “Are you coming back to mine then?”

“I guess”

Frank rolled his eyes, and carried on walking, Ryan still keeping at least a metre or so behind. Frank didn’t bother trying to find out why he was acting weird again.

They got to Frank’s house, and Frank unlocked the door, and went inside, Ryan following behind.

Frank had barely just closed the door, when Ryan had walked past him and gone into the living room.

 Ryan was sitting on the couch, wringing his hands and staring at the floor, slightly shivering.

“Are you cold?”

“No.”

“What’s wrong?”

When Ryan didn’t reply, Frank walked over so that he was standing right in front of Ryan, and looking down at him. He folded his arms, and sniffed loudly.

“Are you going to tell me what this is about, or am I going to have to guess?”

And at that, Ryan burst into tears.

He sat on the sofa, just crying and crying. Frank didn’t know what to do. What happened?

“Ry, Ryan, what’s wrong?”

He just kept crying, and shaking his head.

Frank knelt down in front of him, and rubbed up and down his arms, reassuringly.

“Ryan, what’ve I said?”

“N- no, it’s not you, it’s-”

Ryan was a blubbering, sniffling mess and Frank was so confused.

“What’s happened Ryan? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine it’s-”

“Have Derek and Theo done something to you?”

Ryan kept crying, his sleeve getting soggier by the second.

“Oh my god, they have. What have they done, I'm gonna kill ‘em”

“No Frank, no”

“Ryan, what have they _done!_ ”

Ryan looked up, and right into Frank’s eyes, “They haven’t done _anything!_ ”

“What? Why are you crying, what’s wrong?”

“It’s me!”

“What’s you?”

“Everything. Everything, it’s all my fault”

“Ryan... I don’t understand, what’s your fault”

“ _Everything_ ”

“You mean the whole fight? That was completely my fault”

“I’m such an idiot, I didn’t even do anything!”

“Yes you did, you got Mr. Wentz. Without you, I’d be... well...”

“Exactly, what if I hadn’t found him? Anything could have happened to you!”

“Ryan, no, none of this is your fault”

“Frank! All of it is.”

There was a silence; neither of them knew what to say. Ryan sat, shaking, on the sofa, staring at the top of Frank’s head. Frank was looking at the floor, which had suddenly become very interesting.

“Ever since we started high school, this has been happening”

Frank let Ryan continue.

“It even happened when we were kids. You were the one who could have been completely fine. You could have survived high school, without having to go through bullies and getting beaten up. But of course, that was never going to happen for you. Because of me.”

Frank looked up.

“I dragged you down with me. I got you into all kinds of shit. I let you take it. I never even properly tried to get you out of anything and-”

“Ryan! Stop!”

Frank knelt up and pulled Ryan into a hug, “Stop, just stop. Don’t say that. Don’t even think anything like that. I wouldn’t stop being friends with you for anything”

“You don’t understand. If I was just normal. If I wasn’t a freak-”

“Ryan, you are not a freak. I don’t want to hear you ever say that again. You can’t let them make you feel like this!”

“Frank, it wouldn’t be like this if it wasn’t for me. They are right. I’m not actually helping anyone, especially not you”


	20. Part 19 - Frank really wasn't in any shape to go to a party

Ryan had stopped crying by now, probably because he was trying so hard to convince Frank he was better off without him.

“Frank, you know I'm right.”

Ryan wasn’t right though, and Frank knew it.

“So what if I wouldn’t have got beaten up so much? So what if wouldn’t have been bullied? So what if you hadn’t found Mr. Wentz to come and help me?”

Ryan was now sitting back on the couch, legs tucked up to his chest.

“Ryan, If I wasn’t friends with you, what would I have become?”

Ryan just shook his head.

“I might even have been one of those dickhead jocks. I’d much prefer to be like this”

He carried on shaking his head.

“Don’t you understand? I’d go through all of that time and time again, just to stay friends with you, and keep you out of harm.”

“You shouldn’t have to though”

“Ryan, I'm not going to leave you. And there’s nothing you can do about it”

He sighed and sat forward. “I just can’t be happy with the fact that you’re taking it all when I'm the one causing all the problems”

“If you changed.... I’d never forgive you”

Ryan broke into a grin at that. “Well ya know, I am going to age and go all grey and shit”

“Oh my God, you know what I mean”

Frank was grinning too now, though.

The conversation was over.

They sat there on the sofa, all quiet, for a while.

Eventually Frank got up to go and make them some lunch. The afternoon went quickly, and suddenly Ryan remembered something.

“Shit...”

“What?”

“Well, what are you going to do about tonight?”

“Tonight?”

“You’re meant to be going to that party”

Frank groaned and head butted his knees, which were the closest thing to head butt.

“I can’t cancel on Gerard, especially after what’s already happened.”

“Well you can’t go to a party! You just got beaten up this morning, and you said that the pain in you left leg has been getting worse all day”

“What am I going to do?”

“You could just call him”

“Yeah, and say what?”

“That you can’t really go to the party, and maybe it would be better if you did something else instead”

“He sounded like he was really looking forward to that party though”

“Come on Frank, just call him”

“Fine”

Frank dragged himself up to get the phone. He came back in and slumped down on the sofa next to Ryan.

When Gerard picked up, Frank kind of went blank.

“Hello, Gerard speaking”

“H- hi, it’s Gera- I mean Frank”

“Frank?”

“Yes”

“Oh hey! You still on for tonight?”

“That’s actually what I was calling about”

Frank sort of grimaced and looked over to Ryan who was staring intently at him and biting the nail on his thumb.

Frank tried not to laugh, and went back to concentrating on the call.

“What’s up?”

“Well, I’m not really in a good state to be going to a party”

“Why? What happened?”

“Well, I got into a bit of a, er, fight this morning”

“What!”

“I’m really sorry I can’t go, it’s just my leg’s killing me and-”

“No, no that’s fine; I’m more worried about this fight”

“What? “

“The fight! Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay, just the leg thing ya know”

“Are you sure? Did you go to the nurse? Did you put ice on your bruises? Who are these people? I’m gonna fucking kill ‘em”

That really wasn’t what Frank was expecting to hear. Gerard sounded really, _really_ concerned.... and pissed off.

“I’m okay, honestly”

“Yeah well...”

“Anyway, what I was going to say was, um, did you want to do something else tonight?”

“Something else?”

“It’s okay, if you wanna just leave it”

“No, no. What did you have in mind?”

“Um, I didn’t really think that far ahead”

Gerard laughed a bit, and it sounded like he was throwing stuff around.

“Well, you could just come to mine? Get some pizza, watch some movies and shit”

“Yeah!”

Frank immediately mentally kicked himself. He didn’t want to sound too eager. Gerard laughed again, and there was some more shuffling and clattering on the other end of the phone.

“Okay then, same time as you would have been round before?”

“Yeah, sounds good”

“Okay, see you at eight”

Ryan scooted along the sofa to Frank, “So, going to his tonight are we?” he said, raising an eyebrow.


	21. Part 20 - Frank arrives at Gerard's place

Ryan was lying upside down on the sofa with his eyes closed, listening to Frank who was sitting on the floor blabbering about Gerard and something to do with seagulls.

Ryan eventually realised what Frank was talking about, and opened his eyes to give him a weird look.

“Seriously man, what’s this about seagulls?”

“Were you not listening to anything I’ve just been saying?”

“No I was but... er”

“I was _saying_ about how that white shirt I have makes me look like some kind of human seagull”

“What the fuck?”

“It’s weird. It’s like I'm the seagull master and I'm gonna rip my shirt off and they’re gonna come flying at you”

“I think you might need to go put some ice on your head”

“Hey!” Frank grabbed a pillow from behind him and threw if at Ryan’s face.

“Well you know, I'm not the one saying they’re a ‘seagull master’”

“Shut up- oh it’s half seven, I should get going soon”

“Yeah...” Ryan turned around and sat up. He clutched his head for a second as a dizzy rush decided to float his way.

“I’ll walk with you... since I need to go that way to get home anyway”

“Yeah”

Frank went to check how he looked in the hall mirror and walked back into the lounge glaring at Ryan.

“Why didn’t you tell me I looked like this?” Frank indicated to himself, and stood there with his hands on his hips.

“Look like what?”

“Like shit”

“Oh come on, you look fine, besides you don’t have time to change and go and make yourself look pretty”

“Shut up”

Ryan laughed and rolled off the sofa.

“Come on then, let’s go”

Frank grabbed his jacket as they walked out the door, and then they headed off to Gerard’s.

\-----------------

They stopped outside Gerard’s house about 15 minutes later, and Frank turned to Ryan to say something.

“Do you think it’ll be weird?”

“Weird? In what way?”

“Well for one, I’ve only met Gerard a couple of times, and now I'm going to be spending the night hanging out in his room, watching DVD’s with him. Two, Mikey will be there as well, and I don’t know, it might seem awkward.”

“Mikey’s a cool guy, he’s friends with Brendon after all, and from what I’ve heard he seems really relaxed and chilled about things, so I wouldn’t worry.”

“I guess...”

“You’ll be fine, now hurry up and get inside so I can go home”

“Oh, I’m sorry” Frank said sarcastically, before giving Ryan a quick hug and heading up the path to the house.

Frank stood on the doorstep. Apparently deciding how to knock was important. Did he do a quick double-knock? Or do some kind of tune? Or just like, pound at the door? He decided to go with the quick double-knock, and waited for an answer. No one came to the door immediately, and then a slightly tired looking Mikey appeared.

“Oh hey... Frank?”

“Hey... um”

“Oh yeah, you’re here for Gerard, come in”

“Thanks”

“He’s in his room, in the basement” Mikey wafted a hand towards the end of the hallway, and then went back into the lounge, where Frank could hear some kind of video game being resumed.

Frank walked down the hallway to the steps that were leading down to the basement. He always assumed that the door would be at the top, and then the stairs, but no. He guessed it made more sense to have the stairs first, that way you wouldn’t open the door not knowing there was a drop, and then fall down them.

Frank was trying to be quiet for some reason, and then he had the door problem again. Did he knock? Did he go straight in? Did he do the knock-and-go-straight-in-after-anyway thing? He decided knocking and waiting would be a good choice.

He got to the bottom of the stairs and brought his fist up to the door, and was about to knock when he heard something weird from inside.

He lowered his arm, and listened. There it was again. And- oh my God, Frank knew what that was. It was a moan. And again and again, and oh my God, Gerard was totally jerking off in there.

Frank had no clue what to do now. He _defiantly_ couldn’t just go in, and knocking would be embarrassing not only for Gerard, but for Frank slightly as well.

Frank was dithering at the bottom of the stairs when there was a noise from behind him. He turned around to see Mikey at the top of the stairs with an empty plate, clearing heading to the kitchen for more food.

“Yeah, that’s Gerard’s room, go in”

“Yeah... thanks” Frank smiled and nodded, but Mikey wouldn’t leave.

“Just go in, I promise you won’t walk in on anything _too_ weird”

“Not too sure about that” Frank said under his breath.

“What? You say something?”

“No...”

Mikey gave him a weird look, before rolling his eyes and walking down the stairs.

“Look, I’ll open the door then”

No. No. No. No. Oh my God, what was going to happen?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to comment ;-)


	22. Part 21 - Gerard doesn't seemed to be phased

Frank had to say something, but he didn’t know what.

Mikey was about to put his hand on the doorknob, when there was another moan, but this time, a bit louder.

Mikey stopped, and looked at Frank. He started to laugh quietly, and turned to head back up the stairs.

“I can’t believe this, I told him you would be here soon”

“Um...”

Mikey laughed again, before shouting, “Gerard! Stop jerking off, your boyfriend’s here”

People at the end of the street must have heard it! Frank was about to protest, saying that Gerard wasn’t his boyfriend, but Mikey had gone.

There was _a lot_ of clattering around from inside the room, and lots of ‘oh fuck’s and ‘shiiiiiit’s.

Finally the clattering stopped, and Gerard flung the door open.

“Hey!”

“Um...” What was Frank supposed to say?

He stood there awkwardly, playing with his hands.

“Come in” Gerard seemed remarkably calm, considering what had just happened. Maybe he was just used to it?

Frank walked into Gerard’s room, which seemed pretty normal, messy, but pretty normal. There were clothes everywhere; there were around 6 or 7 DVD piles. There were a lot of CDs and Vinyl’s scattered around. There was a fairly small TV in the corner, which had another small pile of DVDs stacked on it. Band posters littered the walls, and it was really, really dark. Frank assumed there was a window behind the dark, grey curtains that were hung up, but he wouldn’t ever know unless they were opened.

Gerard was still acting completely normal over the whole situation. He was walking about, kicking some things out of the way so that Frank wouldn’t trip and fall into some dirty laundry.

He threw some stuff off his bed, and smoothed out the covers. He then sat down, and patted them, for Frank to sit down next to him.

Frank was trying not to think of how Gerard had just been jerking off, exactly where he was about to sit. It was kind of turning him on, and he really did not want an awkward hard on-right then.

Frank sat down stiffly on Gerard’s bed, and backed up so that he was against the wall. Gerard smiled at him, and then suddenly jumped up, causing Frank to nearly jump out of his skin.

“So, you want a drink?”

“Um, yeah, sure”

“Great, I’ll just get some lemonade... for now”

“Sure”

Gerard bounded off out of the room and up the stairs to the kitchen.

Frank stared around the room, taking it all in. He still wondered why Gerard seemed so calm and normal. Did he not think Frank had heard or something?

Frank was contemplating what would happen if he said something about it, when Gerard came back in, carrying some mugs.

“Here ya go, Frankie”

Whoa, he called him Frankie. Was this, like his nickname or something?

Gerard handed Frank the mug, and settled back down on the bed.

“So...” he said, setting his mug down on the nightstand.

“Mmm?” Frank replied, putting his mug down too.

“Well, how are you?”

“Err, good”

“What about the whole fight thing?”

“Oh, it’ okay, it’s not that bad. The only reason I didn’t want to go to the party was... well actually Ryan said it was bad for me to go, I wanted to... but, um...”

“You don’t have to make an excuse; I would have done the same”

Frank nodded, and there was a weird silence where both of them were trying to think of something to say. It was weird really; Frank was always a talker, around everyone. Ryan knew that for sure, and he even talked to Brendon a lot.  When he was with Gerard though, he seemed to go speechless.

He was thinking of something cheesy in his head about Gerard’s ‘unbelievable amount of charm being overwhelming’, when Gerard got up and walked over to his TV.

“You wanna watch a film?”

“Oh yeah, great”

“Horror?”

“Awesome”

Gerard laughed started rifling through his massive DVD collection. It wasn’t just DVDs though; there were still some good old videos in there. Some of the older ones were the best.

Frank sat back on the bed again.

Apart from the occasional silences, he had a feeling that this night wasn’t going to be awkward or weird at all. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry i took longer to update than i have for the last couple of times..  
> thanks for reading and don't forget to comment ;-)


	23. Part 22 - A Quiet Night in with Gerard

They ended up watching Day of The Dead. It was alright, Frank had seen it millions of times before, but watching it with Gerard was different. Frank didn’t even pay attention to most of the film. He kept glancing at Gerard and watching him out the corner of his eye. At one point, Gerard caught Frank staring, and Frank got all embarrassed and weird. Gerard just laughed at him though, and carried on watching the film.

By the end of it, Gerard was pretty much in Frank’s lap. Well, that was a bit of an overstatement. He was curled up next to Frank on the bed, with his head resting on Frank’s arm. Frank’s arm was getting kind of warm and itchy, but he didn’t want to move and disturb a peaceful Gerard.

With Gerard’s head like that, he could see Frank. That gave Frank a good chance to look at him. Well, some of his face and hair. His hair was definitely dyed black, it wasn’t that dark naturally and Frank could see his roots coming though. Gerard’s skin was really clear, and a kind of pale, milky colour.

Suddenly Gerard sat up, causing Frank to snap out of his trance. Gerard stretched and got up to turn the TV off. He walked back to the bed, and flopped down on it, his head nearly landing on Frank’s lap. That really wouldn’t have been good for Frank.

“So...” Gerard said, putting his hand up and picking at something on his wall,

“Good film” Frank said back, shuffling a bit.

“What do you wanna do now?”

Frank could think of many things that he wouldn’t mind doing with Gerard, but he obviously wasn’t going to say them out loud. 

“Don’t mind, whatever. I usually just sit at home on a Friday night, so anything’s an improvement”

Gerard laughed again. He really seemed to be amused by Frank, but Frank couldn’t tell if he was generally being funny, or Gerard was laughing at him. Frank didn’t think that Gerard was the type of person to just laugh at someone in their face though.

“Well, we could just chat”

“Sure”

What were they going to chat about? Frank could bring up the whole jerking off thing, but that might make Gerard a bit pissed off, especially if he’d been trying to ignore it all night.

“Well Frank, I say we get to know each other more”

“Okay, um-”                     

“What kind of music do you like?”

“Well...” Frank pointed around the room at Gerard’s posters.

“Ah, so we’re on the same terms with that then”

“Yeah...”

Gerard kept on asking stupid things like, “What are your favourite foods, colours and animals?”

He actually seemed interested in Frank’s answers though, so Frank didn’t mock him for it.

The conversation was going smoothly until Gerard decided to change the subject. “It’s weird ya know”

“What’s weird?”

“Well how do we know each other?”

What? What did that mean?

“Um well, I know Ryan, who’s going out with Brendon. Brendon is friends with Mikey and he’s your brother...”

“Exactly”

“Where are you getting at with this?”

“Well, if you think about it, we barely know each other.”

He was right; they didn’t really know each other.

Gerard could see Frank thinking, so decided to start talking again. “That’s why I invited you over tonight”

“Didn’t you invite me over because we weren’t going to the party?”

“Yes, but I didn’t have to. I could have just said “leave it” and that would have been that.”

“Um...”

“I want to get to know you Frank. You seem like an awesome dude”

“Well thanks”

Gerard smiled, like he was proud of himself or something.

Frank was seriously confused by this point. What was Gerard trying to do to Frank? Was he flirting? Maybe he was, with the whole ‘Frankie’ thing. Or was he just being friendly? Like Gerard had said, they didn’t really know each other. Gerard could treat everyone like that, and Frank wouldn’t be anyone special.

They were quiet for a moment, and then there was a very loud bang from upstairs, followed by some smashing and an ‘OH FUCK’.

Gerard and Frank looked at each other, before jumping up and running up the stairs to see what all the commotion was about.

They ran into the lounge, to find Mikey with his hands in his hair and eyes wide.

“Mikey what..... oh shit”

“I didn’t mean to, I just knocked it!”

On the floor was a former vase. It looked kind of expensive and it was now smashed into millions of pieces and all over the carpet.

“Mum is gonna _kill_ you”

“You think I don’t know that!”

“Guess we should clean it up”

Frank was still standing in the doorway awkwardly. Mikey had clearly started raging at his video game, and probably flung his arm around in anger, knocking the vase. Now that Frank thought about it, having an expensive vase right next to your doorway, and sofa, wasn’t really that good of an idea.

“Do you think we should try to fix it?” Mikey asked, looking at Gerard seriously.

“Do you know how to fix a broken vase?”

“No...”

“Look, let’s just put it in the trash, and then you can figure out what you’re gonna tell mum”

“What? Why do I have to explain?”

“Err, because you’re the one who knocked it over, dumbass”

Mikey shot back something, and then they erupted into an argument. Frank wasn’t really sure what they were saying; he was kind of staring at Gerard again. It was a bit of a weird thing to be doing, in the circumstances, but Frank was a weird kid, so it was okay.

“Yeah you think so? You couldn’t beat me up even if you did have a flying banana cactus sword.”

What the hell? Frank snapped out of his trance (for the second time that night) and turned to Mikey. “Okay, hold the fuck up. What even is that?”

“Oh, Frank. I forget you were there”

Nice one Gerard. Way to make Frank feel good about himself. He easily gets forgotten. Gerard didn’t even seem to realise what he’d said could have sounded hurtful, and carried on staring at Frank.

“Sorry, I forget that you aren’t aware of Gerard’s comic he’s writing.” Mikey smiled, all smug and arms crossed.

“Mikey!” Gerard slapped Mikey on the arm, and didn’t turn back to look at Frank.

“Wait... you’re writing a comic?”

“Come on Gerard, don’t be all shy!”

“Mikey, fuck off”

“Hey!”

Gerard glared at Mikey.

“I guess I’ll have to tell him all about it then.”

“Leave it, Mikey.” Gerard turned to Frank, “It’s not even that good, I was just messing around with some ideas and-”

He was about to carry on when the front door opened and Gerard and Mikey’s mum walked in.

Shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry that i took a while to update this again :\  
> Keep your comments coming though, they really make my day *cough* week *cough*   
> Thankyouu xoxo


	24. Part 23 - The Vase...

“Oh hello... Frank is it?”

“Umm...” Frank made the mistake of looking straight at the mess on the floor.

Mrs. Way followed Frank’s gaze, to the floor. “Is that your Grandma’s vase?”

“It was Mikey” Gerard didn’t waste any time with that one.

“Hey! It was an accident!”

“What did you do Mikey?”

“I was playing-”

“Those damn video games? What have I told you about getting over worked up about them!”

“Sorry it’s just-”

“I don’t care! Do you know how expensive that was?”

“No...but”

“If your Grandmother saw this...”

“I’m really sorry!”

Frank had been shifting around awkwardly in the hallway whilst Mikey and his mum were having it out. Gerard had resorted to the couch, where he’d been staring at his mum for the past 5 minutes. He hadn’t even looked at Frank.

“Well, you’re very lucky Mikey”

“What? Why?”

“Well, your Grandma doesn’t have to find out about the vase. She never comes here anyway.”

Mikey frowned, as his mum carried on.

“Also, I never liked that vase anyway; I just didn’t have the heart to throw it away. It has been in the family for a while”

“So you didn’t even care about the vase?”

“Not particularly”

“What! Why did you just have a go at me then?”

“Because it’s funny to watch you get flustered. And to make a point.”

“What! What point?”

“That you need to calm down whilst playing video games”

Mikey glared at his mum before she grinned and walked out of the room.

Gerard snorted from the couch.

“Hey! You were totally shitting yourself as well” Mikey flipped off his brother before walking off to the kitchen.

Frank walked into the room, and sat down next to Gerard softly.

“So... that was interesting”

“Yeah, sure was. She is right though, Mikey is hilarious when he gets like that”

Frank laughed, and sat back on the sofa. “Are you planning on cleaning the mess up?”

“Yeah I’ll do that later, I have a guest round at the moment. And I need to take care of them”

Just that way that Gerard said ‘take care of them’ made Frank shiver. He turned and saw Gerard smirking at him.

For the rest of the night, Frank couldn’t help but feel that Gerard knew exactly what he was doing to him.

\--------------------

“So, how was last night” Ryan was practically singing down the phone at Frank.

“Ryan seriously, can I tell you later when you come round?”

“No, no, no. Now”

“Ryan. Why are you so interested?”

“Because this is the guy you like, and I want to know about what happened. Oh my god, come on”

“Be patient. I’m busy this morning, but come round at about 3 ish”

“Fine. But I'm not happy about this. I’m going to annoy you so much later”

“I don’t doubt that you will”

“Anyways, byeee”

“Yeah, bye”

Frank hung up, and fell back onto his bed. The night before really had been good. Hanging around, chatting, drinking and watching TV was so much different when doing it with Gerard. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so unbelievably sorry about how long i have taken to update this story. I kind of had a mind blank to where i was going with it, and then there was school and things got kind of hectic.   
> Anyways, it's the holidays for a bit, so i'll try and do as much writing as i can. 
> 
> Sorry again, and don't forget to comment ;-) xoxo  
> P.S. sorry this part is kinda crap, i just thought i really needed to get something out for you guys.


	25. Part 24 - Gerard's a confusing one

Ryan bounded through the front door and up to Frank’s room before he could even close the door.

Frank followed Ryan to his room, and closed the door. “Seriously man, why are you so excited? I don’t have any new clothes for you to examine and criticize.”

“That’s not the only reason I get excited” Ryan retorted, slightly bouncing as he sat on the edge of the bed.

“Seems like it”

“Shut up, and anyway, you’re forgetting Brendon.” Ryan raised an eyebrow and looked at Frank.

“He’s an exception.”

“Whatever. Anyway, let last night’s events be told”

“You’re making this sound so dramatic. Nothing interesting happened. Well, nothing that you’d find interesting” Frank said, as he flopped down onto his bed.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes”

“Tell me anyway, you know I’ll just bug you till you do” Ryan tucked his legs up and stared at Frank intently.

“Ya know, you look like a kid who’s about to get a story read to them”

“I like that look”

“You’re crazy”

“Stop avoiding the desired subject, and get on with it!”

“Fine, but you’re gonna be disappointed”

Ryan smiled and sat back.

\-------------------------------

“You know the bit where I said about Gerard like... kind of ignoring me? Yeah, I don’t really know what that was about”

“Don’t let it bother you. It was probably just because he was stressing out about the vase”

“I guess...” Frank wasn’t really convinced.

He thought that Gerard must have been getting bored. Frank wasn’t really the most interesting person, and well, Gerard was Gerard.

Frank thought Gerard was some kind of... not God, but something pretty cool.

Frank assumed Gerard wouldn’t invite him round again. After all, the first time hadn’t been anything special.

The whole thing still confused Frank though. Gerard had said that he really wanted to get to know him, and that he seemed like an awesome guy. So maybe Gerard had changed his mind, or maybe he just acted weirdly all the time and Frank just hadn’t found that out yet. Frank remembered again how Gerard has pointed out the fact that they didn’t really know each other that well.

\------------------

It was late in the afternoon, and Ryan had been at Frank’s all day and was about to head off, when Frank’s phone rang.

“You gonna get that? It could be Gerard...”

“Yeah right” Frank replied, expecting the call to be from some family member, or a stupid marketing call.

“Hello?”

.....

“Oh, hey”

.....

“No, I just wasn’t expecting to get a call from you”

......

“Oh, it doesn’t matter, but um, yeah”

...........

“Um.. I don’t think so”

.....

“Sounds great, see you then”

......

“Yeah, bye”

It was Gerard, and he and Frank were going to be going out to get lunch the next day.

“So, I’m guessing that was you boyf”

“Ryan, don’t say ‘boyf’, its weird. And it was Gerard if that’s what you mean”

“Yes! So, when are you seeing him?”

“Er, tomorrow...”

Ryan all but squeaked, and tried to refrain from jumping on Frank.

“Aw, you guys are so cute”

“Yeah, whatever... anyway, you’re meant to be leaving”

“Well I was going to ask if I could stay to talk about tomorrow ,but I see how it is”

“Yeah. You do. Now leave.”

“But...”

“I don’t want to have a long discussion about what I'm going to be wearing out to lunch tomorrow. It’s not like it’s at a posh restaurant or anything...”

“Well his house isn’t posh, and you wanted me to help you with your clothing choices then”

“Shut up”

Ryan laughed, gave Frank a quick hug, and decided that I was time to leave, before he _really_ started to bug Frank. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry if there's any mistakes, but i haven't checked through this for typos and suck like, because i thought i really needed to get another part out.   
> Enjoy anyway, and don't forget to comment ;-)   
> thanks xoxo


	26. *THIS IS NOT A CHAPTER BUT I DONT CARE*

right, i havent updated this for a month, and that's because i havent written for a month. to be honest, i can'r really see where this is going, it started off as a good idea, but i dont really have much vision for the story line.  
i dont want to use up time working on this story when i could be working on another (yes, will be posting it soon :D) especially if you aren't even that bothered about it  
if any of you want me to carry on with this, please say so because i will if it's what you guys want. so comment below or whatever  
thankyouu xoxo


	27. Part 25 - Is Gerard always like this?

Frank was surprised the next morning when Ryan didn’t decide to make a random house call, or phone him up.

He had a peaceful morning, trying not to think about his...  date later. He didn’t really know whether he should call it a date. Gerard might have just wanted to meet up for some lunch. People do that all the time. It doesn’t mean anything.

The morning seemed to fly by, and soon Frank found himself in a rush trying to get ready. It would take him about 15 minutes to get there, and he was meant to arrive in 10 minutes. He wasn’t anywhere near ready. He was screwed.

Gerard’s gonna leave. He’s gonna get bored of waiting. He’ll be really pissed off at me. Frank was getting really stressed out, and ended up walking out the house with his shirt buttoned up wrong. Frank didn’t even want to wear a shirt like that. He thought he looked too overdressed now. It would irritate him. He wanted to go for a casual look, but that idea went straight out the door.

He arrived and checked the time to realise he was around 10 minutes late. Gerard was nowhere to be seen.

Frank started freaking out again. He actually had left. He didn’t wait long. Couldn’t he have texted to find out where Frank was?

Frank was pacing back and forth outside the cafe, deciding whether he should go in and sit down and wait for Gerard to come... if he was going to actually turn up. Maybe if he went inside and just sat down on his own, he could pretend he’d meant to be there by himself in the first place. Frank was pretty sure people inside had seen him though, so maybe that wasn’t really a good plan.

He sat down on the window sill outside the cafe and checked the time again. Gerard was now 15 minutes late, and Frank was contemplating leaving. He looked like an idiot anyway. He should just go.

He got up, and starting down the road, heading for home.

\--------------

“What do you mean he didn’t show up?”

“He didn’t come. There was no sign of him”

“What! I don’t understand. He loves you.”

“Ryan! He does now love me, we barely know each other”

“Still... he really likes you, I can tell. Maybe you should call him”

“I can’t call him.”

“Why not?”

“Well he obviously didn’t want to see me, so he probably doesn’t want to talk to me either”

“I’m sure there’s a good explanation. He was the one who called _you_ up, remember?”

“It was probably a joke”

“Don’t say that...”

“Oh come on? Who does that anyway? He’d only met me... once really, and then he invited me round to his for the night”

“Maybe he’s just really friendly! Please call him, what’s the worst that can happen?”

“Um... that I’ll look like an idiot maybe”

“Just demand for an explanation”

“Do you really think I could pull that off? Just demanding that he tell me why he doesn’t like me?”

“No! Not why he doesn’t like you. He does, I know it. Just ask why he didn’t show, he has to have a good reason. Please, just do it... for me?”

Frank was quiet on the phone for a couple of minutes before replying to Ryan. “Fine, but if it goes wrong, you’re gonna get it”

“Thank you... just don’t worry alright?

“I’ll try... anyway, I’ll call you back after?”

“Okay... bye, Frank”

“Bye”

I hung up, and flicked through my contacts for Gerard’s number. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> once again, im being a bitch with updating. sorry isn't really cutting it right now.. but i am.   
> anyway, i hope you like this chapter! it's short...  
> thank you for reading! xoxo

**Author's Note:**

> Some of the chapters (parts) are going to be quite short, some of them are going to be quite long. It really depends on the subject of the particular part.  
> Feel free to comment, constructive criticism is always welcome.


End file.
